Independent's APN radio and newspaper offshoot in Australia and New Zealand has made no secret of its expansionist strategy.

After all, putting the company into the financial shape where it could take on the big deals was the rationale behind the merger of APN and Wilson & Horton.

Most people believe that Fairfax, with its three trophy titles, is Sir Anthony's prime target in Australia but with a current market cap of €1.8 billion, Fairfax is probably still out of Indo and APN's reach.

But there may be other options for APN, after the Perth-based West Australian Newspapers (WAN) in effect put up a "for sale" sign. WAN did have merger talks with Fairfax but couldn't agree on a price. WAN's main title The West Australian mightn't have the cachet of the Fairfax titles that Sir Anthony would dearly love to get his hands on, but it would be a very handy add-on to APN.

The price? WAN currently has a market capitalisation of about €650 million, while APN itself is worth just under €1 billion.